DJUSD Staff Insights
August 2024
Welcome back!
DJUSD Staff Insights has been rebranded! Same important updates, new look.
Mark Your Calendars
September 2 - Labor Day (no school)
September 27 - California Native American Day
View our website calendar for additional upcoming events!
Introducing our new Administrators
Tim Rahill - Associate Superintendent of Business Services
Ricardo Perez - Pioneer Elementary Principal
Please join us in welcoming Ricardo Perez as the new principal of Pioneer Elementary. In his 28-year career as an educator, Ricardo has served as a teacher, site administrator and district administrator. He is excited to bring his dedication and passion to the Pioneer community and our leadership team.
Katrina Williams - Program Specialist
Our Special Education Department is excited to welcome Katrina Williams as the department's new Program Specialist. With over 20 years of teaching experience, including 15 years dedicated to special education, Katrina brings a wealth of knowledge and passion to our team. Her collaborative approach and dedication to teamwork will undoubtedly enhance our efforts to support students.
Advancing the Work of our Strategic Plan
Values in Action Awards Program - Celebrating our Community
DJUSD is committed to fostering a culture of excellence, collaboration and community engagement. As part of this commitment, the DJUSD is proud to introduce the Values In Action Award Program. These awards are given to individuals who embody the shared values of DJUSD and demonstrate outstanding efforts that celebrate the cultural contributions and identities in our school communities and the work of our DJUSD 2023-2028 Strategic Plan with its four Goals for Student Success. These awards provide the opportunity to honor those who have "gone above and beyond" to support excellence in our schools.
More information, including the nomination process and form (coming soon!) is available on our website.
Year 2 in Action
A Great Day of Collaboration and Preparation
We welcomed back over 500 DJUSD teachers, counselors, specialists and paraeducators as we launched our work with UDL and Mitigating Bias in partnership with the National Equity Project. We look forward to continuing this work together over the course of the year.
District Leadership Team Kick Off Strategic Plan Work
Earlier this month, our extended leadership team kicked off the new school year with their annual retreat. It was a great couple days of team building and planning with the shared goal of advancing our Strategic Plan work.
District Updates
Workplace Violence Prevention Plan
Senate Bill 553 requires DJUSD to have a Workplace Violence Prevention Plan in place and to have a mechanism for reporting incidents. You can read the full Workplace Violence Prevention Plan here. If you experience an incident of Workplace Violence, please tell your supervisor immediately and submit a report here. All incidents will be investigated promptly.
Exploring Workforce Housing
DJUSD is acutely aware that the lack of affordable housing is a significant contributor to attracting and retaining employees and in fighting declining enrollment in our schools. To address these challenges, DJUSD is embarking on a concerted effort to explore workforce housing and other creative solutions to meet our needs and to retain, attract and employ exceptional and dedicated talent.
On August 15, the Board of Education unanimously approved a resolution on DJUSD Workforce Housing Plan. Learn more about our Workforce Housing plan progress on our website.
Building Success- One Project at a Time!
A majority of the first phase of our Measure M Signature Projects have been successfully completed! These new state-of-the-art facilities not only modernize our schools but they provide our students and staff the opportunity to enhance education in a space that has been specifically designed to increase engagement as well as offer the tools needed to prepare for college/career readiness.
We aren't done yet! Learn more about the projects still in motion by reading Building our Future - our Bond Program newsletter, or by visiting our Bond website.
Board of Education
Next Meeting
The next regular meeting of the Board of Education will be in-person on Thursday, September 5, 2024. This regular meetings can be viewed on DJUSD Education Channel 17 and by livestream, or you can watch archived recordings at djusd.tv.
Quick Links
Resources
DJUSD Staff Insights e-newsletter is designed to keep our employees up to speed on the latest news and need to knows coming from various departments in this very challenging time. We hope you find this resource helpful. You can find archived issues on our Staff Insights webpage.